I’ve been meaning to make a fairly straightforward post about criticism and my thoughts thereupon, as that seems to be a step in the average critical aniblogger’s acquisition of internet tenure. But when an alternative presented itself, I resolved to do something a bit different. What follows is an IM conversation between myself and my younger brother, hereafter referred to as Otouto-kun (he wanted the -kun, don’t ask me why), an enterprising young hikikomori-type with game design aspirations. We got on the topic of criticism somehow, and I ended up spilling all my most recent thoughts on the subject. Being an IM conversation, it’s a bit spur-of-the-moment and rough around the edges, but I’ve cleaned it up for the sake of readability — and I think it makes a little sense, anyway. There are certainly enough of you out there to correct me if I’m mistaken.